Watchman And Observer

COMMUNICATIONS.
Correspondence of the Watchman and Observer.
FOREIGN POPULATION AT THE WEST.
HOW TO IMPROVE THEIR CONDITION—GERMANS, IRISH, MORMONS AND NORWEGIANS.
New York, January 1st, 1848.
The rapid increase of the Germans in the West, excites deep interest among reflecting people there, as well as in other parts of the United States. Their moral and spiritual condition is deplorable in some neighborhoods, and unless they greatly improve, their influence upon Western society must be most pernicious. Loud and repeated calls have been made upon the American Tract Society for Colporteurs, with their pious, cheap publications, but unless the people and the Church of Christ come promptly to its aid, the Society cannot respond to these earnest appeals, because its operations are already extended beyond its resources. "When I first resided here," writes an officer of the Indiana Presbytery, asking for the services of a Colporteur, "there were no Germans. Now there are thousands of them, mostly Romanists and generally ignorant. Now they control our elections, and their number is rapidly on the increase."
Shall not a Colporteur be sent out by the Tract Society?
Irish emigration never was so great, as poverty and suffering at home drives these poor people to this land of peace and comparative plenty. Their condition interests the heart of every American Christian. It is nearly impossible to reach them through the stated preaching of the Gospel. They will not hear, and if they would, where are the Preachers? The agency of a system like that of our itinerating Ministry, or Tract Colporteur, with their fireside friendly conversation, aided by the sale or gift of cheap religious works, is one of the best means by which an influence can be exerted. A Colporteur of the Tract Society has been temporarily laboring in New Jersey: He writes that, "a considerable portion of the Irish there, are unable to read. They are told by the Priests that to be educated subjects them to greater temptations and sins; it also increases their misapprehension of Scripture and thus promotes their final destruction." Every moral and political consideration demands that the character of these people should be improved and educated. Can this be done more effectually than by Colportage, and is there any more available way of reaching their hearts than through the truths of the Gospel?
The influence of Mormonism has destroyed much of the spiritual and moral responsibility in the regions where that delusion once exerted great power in Illinois. "The people in these Mormon settlements," a Colporteur writes, "are more indifferent on the subject of religion than any body of men I ever before met. Intemperance and Infidelity exist, and Sabbath-breaking and profanity prevail to an alarming extent, especially in the old Mormon regions. A German Methodist Episcopal Minister expressed an anxious desire for Tracts and other publications in German. He said a Colporteur preaching the language would do great good among his countrymen. Many of them are Mormonists, and in one Church an Irish Priest preaches in Latin to his congregation."
Shall not these dark regions be blessed with more Gospel light, and a Colporteur secured permanently for that needy people?
There are some waste places in Ohio which need the immediate prayerful attention of Christians, not merely to cure moral contagion but to prevent its infecting the neighboring community. A Colporteur recently visited a region which he describes as given over to almost every godliness and depravity where Sabbath-breaking, infidelity, and intemperance abound. "Some years since," he remarks, "an attempt was made to build a house of religious worship in that neighborhood. Part of the frame was procured, but the design was afterwards used for building a distillery, and that now in full operation. Those who sow the whirlwind often reap the whirlwind. Where can religious effort be more wisely or profitably directed than in our labor with more advantage?"
The Norwegians are an industrious, sober, and religious population. Nearly 500 of them live in Chicago. They were visited by a Norwegian Colporteur not long since, who made an appointment to meet his countrymen at a particular place at 7 o'clock. Being unexpectedly detained, he arrived before 10 o'clock. Meanwhile great numbers had collected, but after remaining two hours, gradually went to their houses. When I reached there, runners were immediately sent out, and at 11 o'clock that night, I prayed with them, then made an address, and was occupied until after mid-night in personal religious conversation. They would not disperse until I promised to meet them again the following day. The next morning I had another large and attentive audience."
These deserving people are anxious for instruction and earnestly seek for religious light. Shall it be withheld, or shall it be given them?